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Japanese Juke: Booty Tune

On a whim, I recently set out to find some good Japanese juke, or at least juke-inflected beat work. Big surprise: there’s some great shit. Over the next week, I’ll do a short series about the country’s take on the stuttering style.

Compared to some of the other Japanese juke labels that've been featured here lately, Osaka-based Booty Tune have a rare feather in their cap (and this is besides having the best logo): they're home to music by a few flesh-and-blood Chicago producers too. Last year, Booty Tune served up two releases by Chicagoans who've been making ghetto house and footwork since the mid-’90s, offering a mix CD by the venerable Trax Man and a great EP by low-end legend DJ Clent, whose "Red Legendz" hammers a memorable snippet of Lords of the Underground's "Chief Rocka."

D.J.Fulltono founded the label in 2008, and in 2011 he signed the prolific oddball collective Satanicpornocultshop for a series of EPs. D.J.Fulltono's own remix of their track "Sunshine Baby" is one of Booty Tune's prettiest, with cutely tiny percussion, highway-cruising synth lines and luxe organs.

One of their more experimental takes on juke comes from Gnyonpix, a producer from Kyoto with an EP of footwork takes on jazz greats. It's an idea plenty have probably come up with, but few tackled with such dexterity. "Monk on Juke" makes me want to double my typing speed.